Evolutionized
by Lady Dragon010
Summary: Aiden is a genetic hybrid on the run from the lab where he was created. as he teams up with Max and her flock and another mutant, Tom, he discovers new mysteries, and some answers. will it be enough to destroy the company behind it all? may have slash.
1. prologue

Evolution

by Lady Dragon

Prologue

The wind was warm as I flew back to my home, catching insects along the way, when I heard the sound of a gun fired off and felt a sharp wet pain in my shoulder and wing. And then I was falling, unable to keep altitude with one wing, and hit the ground with a burst of stars in my eyes. Pain, had to get up, had to escape. Rough hands grabbed at me and hauled me into the back of a truck. The whitecoats had found me! I tried to struggle as someone bound my hands and feet before jumping out of the truck and slamming the doors shut. _Shit!_ I thought as I fought the pain. The truck started moving as I tried to figure out what I was going to do to get out of my current predicament before I blacked out and the unreasonable thinking of my second personality, Zodiac, would take over.

By the way, My name is Aiden. I am a genetic mutation, a freak. I have bat wings, real sharp teeth, claws, and, oh, get this, a split personality. Oh and did I mention, a real problem with being aware of my surroundings? Anyway, I'll give the short version of my "life story". I was made by crazy scientists, whitecoats, who loved playing with human embryos and animal DNA. I am a surviving product of that crazy love. I am one of few successful creations, another important successful creation is a kind of lupine-human hybrid, I call 'em Shifters and they're more lupine in mind and human in looks, except when they are shifting then they are all lupine. Most of the other creations either don't even survive the embryo stage, or they do, and live a short, horrible life. I got to live, oh lucky me.

Anyway, I managed to escape the institution, the lab where I was made, via a guy named Jeb. He had been nice to me when I saw him and had later helped me to escape. Since then I have been living on my own in a forest somewhere in the U.S. undetected...until now.

Now I was in a truck with my hands and feet bound, my shoulder and wing damaged and Zodiac taking my thoughts away. The last coherent thought I remember before he took place of my mind was the truck stopping and someone opening the doors to revel a face I hadn't seen for a while.


	2. Chapter 1

Ch 1

I assumed control myself from Zodiac to find myself in a dog crate to small for my tall, slim body. I was six' seven" and a hundred and ten pounds. Anyway when memory of seeing Jeb's face smiling at me from outside of the truck hit me, I was pissed all over again and had to struggle a bit to keep Zodiac at bay. I hadn't known Jeb that much at all, he had spent most of his time with six other creations, but when I had seen him, he had been kind, and he had helped me escape. Why should I be pissed that a whitecoat had caught me and put into a dog crate. I mean it wasn't the first time I had been put in a dog crate, it had been my home for nearly seventeen years. I guess I was pissed at Jeb for bringing me here again, I don't really know or care. I did, however, care enough to take a look at what I could through the bars of the dog crate. I shifted my position in the d-crate so that I was looking out through the door and not at the back of the d-crate. I saw a small girl in the d-crate across from mine. She looked back at me. I smiled wondering who and what she was when someone in the cage beside me groaned.

"Where are we?" It was a boy speaking. A girl beside the one in front of me answered him.

"We're back at the school Iggy. Max doesn't know what to do, Gazzy is still out. Fang won't talk. I don't know about Angle, and I'm scared and angry."

"Oh," was all the boy, Iggy, would say.

I decided to speak, "Who are you guys and what are you doing here? How do you know the whitecoats. Why'd they bring you to the institution?"

Another girl from across answered me.

"My name in Max. And I won't answer your questions until you tell us who and what you are."

"My name is Aiden. I'm a bat-tiger-panther-wolverine-human-hybrid. Now, you answer." Before she could, however, the other girl spoke again.

"Wow! You're all of that? That's a lot of animals. What animal is what about you. Do you..."

Before she could finish Max cut in, "Shh Nudge. Angel, can we trust this boy?" The girl in front of me answered after a short pause. "Yes. He's on the same side we are."

"'Kay. As I told you my name is Max, my flock, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman, and Angel, are all avian-human hybrids. We were caught in New York and brought here yesterday. We saw you come in."

I was about to answer when I heard a door open and two whitecoats walked in and paused in front of my cage. One squatted down in front of me and said, "We're going to let you out and you're going to follow us. No trouble, no problems, got it?"

"Up yours," I answered. The whitecoat glared and opened the door. I didn't move, I had a plan.

"C'mon, out now, there are some people who need to talk to you."

I crawled out and stood up, stretching after being in that cramped d-crate for so long. I took a look at the girl and her "flock" as I walked by. They looked back at me.

I followed the two whitecoats through a series of hallways, most of them familiar, and felt sick as sixteen and a half years of memories came flooding back to me in a rush. I don't know why they had taken so long to come back, but now they had, and they weren't pleasant. The whitecoats stopped suddenly in front of a door and I ran into the one who had spoken to me..

"Watch it stupid," he growled. I snarled and he paled, turned, and opened the door. I followed the whitecoats into a small room where a man sat reading something stuck to a clipboard.


	3. Chapter 2

Ch 2

I didn't like him as soon as I smelled him. There was something odd about him...And he was a tacky dresser. Wearing a pressed button-down shirt, pressed khakis, and penny loafers he looked like a lawyer, but with the thick rim glasses and slicked back, side parted hair, he looked like a nerd as well.

He stopped reading and put down his clipboard to look me up and down.

"Hello Aiden. My name is Derik Dallas. I've just been reading your reports. Seems to me that you show too much instability in your DNA. You know what I mean right?"

I shook my head. I didn't know or care what he meant. I just wanted to leave.

"It means, Aiden, that you must be terminated and the procedure tried again."

"What?" I was shocked, terminated? No way, they weren't going to write me off that fast! I saw a pen on the table and picked it up, then I dropped it on the floor.

"Oops, I'll get it." I said and before anyone could react I dove beneath the table and pretending to search for it, slid it, ball point down, up my sleeve.

"Sorry. I'm kinda clumsy," I said getting back up.

"No problem. Anyway Aiden, about your termination, we we're thinking of doing it tomorrow if the preparations are ready because we still have a few things to do before we actually get to the termination."

"Oh," I said. I was really thinking, ten...nine...

"You're taking this all very well. I'm proud of you." What'd he have to be proud of about? Six...five...

"Well I guess this ends it. Please escort Experiment one-oh-two back to his crate?" What happened to Aiden. Three...two...two and a half

I got up and walked to the door, the whitecoats following me.

"ONE!" I shouted and whipped around with a kick to one of the whitecoats behind me. I got him in the stomach and he doubled over with an "oof". The other came at me but I gave him an uppercut to the chin and a knee to the balls, he went down. The nerd, Derik, was calling security as I kicked the doors open and ran back to where the d-crates were.

I heard shouts and footsteps following me as I made it to the d-crates and ran down the rows trying to locate the flock people.

"Max!" I shouted.

"Here," she called back. I located the direction of the shout and found the row where she and her flock were.

Bending down I undid the latch and said, "Release the boys." She scrambled out and undid the latches of the d-crates the boys were in as I undid the girls's.

As soon as they were free I started running towards a door at the other end of the hall, the six kids following me, when suddenly I was tackled from the side by a shifter. I went down hard. I heard the sounds of fighting as the six kids fought off the shifters, mine had me pinned but one of the kids, a boy, hopped on his back and he released my arm, the one with the pen in the sleeve, to grab at him the kid. I slid the pen up and into the shifter's face in one swift motion. He screamed and clawed at the pen as I moved out from under him. I started running again and the kids followed. I shoved the door open into the yard where I had had to run different tests. It was open to the sky and I unfolded my wings and took off, the others doing the same.

Their wings were feathered and looked cool. I saw them looking at my bat ones.

"Follow me. I know where shelter is." I called and took a swift right turn in the air. I heard the shifters below yelling up at us as we flew higher into the sky. Apparently they had forgotten their guns. I had forgotten my shoulder wound and was starting to fall from the pain. Boy was I stupid at times.

My wing folded from pain and I spiraled to the ground, only to be caught by two of bird-kids. Another joined to help keep me from dangling awkwardly and we flew onward.

God, the pain, I don't know why it had taken so long for the message to reach my brain, but it had and I had forgotten because of my adrenaline rush. That happens sometimes, I'll get hurt bad and my body will forget until some crucial moment before reminding me I have an injury. Now was one of those times.

"Go about twenty miles northwest, you'll hit a forest about two thirds of the way before coming to a hill of sorts." I Paused to take a breath as more pain came in a wave over me. "There is a cave around the middle of it." I finished.

"How are you doing? What happened to you?" asked a boy whose voice I didn't know.

"I was shot when I was flying home, that's how the whitecoats caught me. I forgot about it until I was airborne when it hit me in a sudden. By the way, who's who of you guys."

"We'll tell you when you can see who of us is who." Max answered, she was holding me up on the left.

""Kay." I answered. The others had remained quiet all through this time, but now they spoke to me.

"What happened? Why'd they take you to where ever they took you at the School? How did you get away?" This was Nudge's voice.

"They took me to some room where a guy named Derik Dallas told me I was going to be terminated tomorrow. I didn't and don't want to be terminated so when we were about to leave I attacked."

"Where'd you get the pen?" a younger boys voice answered.

"I picked it up off the table and dropped it and when I picked it up I slid it up my sleeve."

"Nice one," he said.

I didn't bother to continue listening to them talk. Instead I drifted into a subconscious state in my mind.

Turns out I fell asleep because next thing I knew someone was saying my name over and over again and it was echoing through my head before I could fully wake enough to respond.

"Wh-wha's goin' on?" I mumbled. "Where am I?"

"We're in the cave you told us about," someone answered. I opened my eyes and saw a fuzzy blur. Blinking and wiping my eyes, I sat up. When I could see clearly I looked around. All six of them had their eyes fixed on me. I could finally see them. One girl had short, light blonde hair and was kind of hot. Another girl had brown skin, curly hair, and big, brown eyes. The smallest girl seemed to be the youngest of the bunch. She looked like a little angel, with light blonde hair, blue eyes, and an innocent looking face.

The first boy I looked at had black hair, cut short but for a chunk flopped in his eyes. He was wearing plain black clothes. The next boy was really tall, almost as tall as me, with spiky red hair tipped with black. His eyes stared unseeing at me, he was blind. The youngest boy had light blond hair, like the younger girl, only his was tipped in blue. He looked like a boyish version of the little girl.

They had been studying me as I had been studying them and I finally spoke, "Okay, who's who?" I rubbed my sore shoulder as the older blonde girl answered.

"I'm Max. This is Nudge," pointing at the brown girl. "This is Angel," the younger girl, _fitting name_, I thought as Max continued.

"This is Fang," the black clad boy. "And this is Iggy and Gasman." The blind boy and the blonde boy.

"Well, since we didn't have time for introductions before, my name is Aiden. What time is it anyway?" I tried to get up but was stopped as my shoulder throbbed.

"Damn it this sucks!" I cursed. The kids looked shocked at my language.

"What? It does."

"We don't curse," Max informed me.

"Oh." I tried getting up again and slowly I made it to my knees, then finally to my feet. I was a little dizzy and I swayed a bit.

"You should sit back down, you need rest," Fang said getting up and moving to help me back down.

"Stretch your wing as far as you can and I'll look it over," he said when I was on my knees again.

"There is a stream a little way off that way," I said, waving my hand to the right. "If you fly low, you can't miss it."

"Great, Nudge, Iggy, can you get me some water in...Aiden do you have a bucket or something?"

"Yeah, uh, try the corner in the back. There might be the one I found at an abandoned camp site."

Gasman went to the back to look and came back with a small bucket and handed it to Iggy. Iggy and Nudge then took off to get the water.

"While they're gone I'm going to look at your wing and shoulder, can you remover your shirt?" Fang asked.

"No, but I can rip it down the front and you can take it off me like a coat."

"That will work," he answered.

"Can we help?" Angel asked.

"No, go ahead and rest or something, okay?"

"Hey Angel, why don't we look for something we can eat while Fang looks at Aiden's wounds?" Max asked.

"Okay," Angle answered happily, and they took off."

Meanwhile I had extended my index claw and was ripping my shirt down the front. When I reached the bottom Fang helped me take it off the rest of the way.

"Cool, you have claws?" Gasman asked making me jump, I had forgotten he was there. Told ya, a real problem with knowing my surroundings.

"Yeah, see?" I extended the rest of my claws and showed him. He touched the tip of one but jumped back when I flinched as Fang touched my shoulder.

"Extend your wing now," he said. I did slowly and painfully.

"You're going to have to hold it or I'll pull it back in," I said, trying not to gasp like a fish from the pain. The Gasman came over and held it up as Fang looked it over.

"It's not that bad. The bullet just grazed your shoulder and a bit of your wing. You shouldn't try to fly for a few days, that is, if you heal as fast as us, otherwise I wouldn't fly for as least a month," Fang announced. Just then Iggy and Nudge came flying back in with the bucket full of water.

"Here you are Fang," Iggy said.

Fang took the bucket and set it beside him. He picked my ripped shirt up and ripped a piece off. He stuck it in the water and stuck it to my shoulder.

"Holy fk that's cold!" I gasped, jumping, causing my shoulder to throb. Gazzy gasped.

"Sorry, it surprised me," I muttered as Fang applied the bit of shirt to my shoulder again. I kept my self from moving as he wiped the blood away and as he finished Max and Angel came back.

"We found a good spot for picking berries, but we realized at the last minute that we needed a bucket." Max announced coming over to check my shoulder.

"Well, we're done with it for now. Aiden, I'm going to wrap your shoulder with the rest of your shirt and then you should keep it rested. Okay?" Fang said.

Max picked up the bucket. "Hey Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, Wanna Help Angel and me pick berries?" she asked. They all nodded and followed her back to her berry picking spot as Fang finished wrapping my shoulder and wing and tied it off.

"Hey Fang." I paused wondering if he was squeamish.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Could you maybe catch me a rabbit or two? Don't bother skinning them, I like the meat fresh." Meaning raw.

"Sure, I'll be back when I've gotten 'em. In the mean time, keep resting."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." I sighed and stood up slowly to walk to the back of the cave. Sitting down I watched as Fang took of flying before curling up on my good shoulder to rest. I was a bit tired.


	4. Chapter 3

Ch3

"Aiden, wake up, I have the rabbits." Fang's voice broke through my fuzzy dream.

"What?" I muttered sitting up and cringing as my shoulder gave a throb. Did I mention I injured my _left_ shoulder? Sorry if I didn't. Anyway I smelled the blood of the rabbits and my eyes flew open.

"Thanks," I said, sounding more like I was growling. I took the rabbits from Fang. He had broken the necks so the meat would be fresh. I tossed one down and buried my sharp teeth into the other rabbit and ripped off a strip of fur before I dug in.

I finished both before the others got back so I had time to clean a bit of the blood off of my face. Fang was looking a little sick. "That was nasty. I've seen hawks and other animals eat other animals, but to see a human, even a genetically altered human, eat like that is kinda gross."

I grinned. "I'm gonna go to the creek and wash off the blood, tell the others if they ask." He nodded and I sat on the edge of the ledge outside of the cave and slid down half on my feet, half on my bottom.

When I reached the bottom I dusted my self off and started walking to the creek.

It didn't take me long as I knew where it was and soon I was stripped and standing in the knee high, icy water scrubbing at my hands, face, and body.

When I was clean I lowered myself to the ground then to my back and lied there drying off. That was how Max and Nudge found me.

I didn't know they were there until I heard an "Eek!" and an "Ack!"

I sat up and covered myself with my pants before talking. "What are you doing here?! Why didn't you warn me?"

"Sorry. Are you covered yet?"

"No. One sec." I put my pants on and told them I was covered and they turned around. Nudge looked kinda shocked and Max seemed embarrassed.

"What are you doing here?" Max asked. "Fang wouldn't tell us why you came here. We picked at least a bucket full of berries, so we have something to eat."

"I already ate. That's why I'm here, I'm a bit of a messy eater and bloody rabbits don't help."

"Bloody rabbits?" Nudge looked sick. "What do you mean, "bloody rabbits""

"I mean just that, raw, bloody, rabbits. They're really good." Now both girls looked sickened.

"Oh well, I guess we should head back to the cave before the others start to worry?" I said and started walking.

The others followed and we were half way to the cave when trouble hit. Literally.

A bunch of shifters came crashing out of the trees and started beatin' on us. Max and Nudge were already fighting while I tried to move at all. I was having a hell of a time trying to fight with a wounded shoulder when the others came swooping down.

They attacked the remaining shifters and I fell back into the trees to stay hidden. I hated not being able to fight. I love fighting, but with my shoulder the most I could do was a sissy slap.

They beat the shifters and started to fly away when Max stopped and said, "Aiden!"

I didn't answer and Fang spoke, "He probably left, come on." They took off again and didn't stop. Good Fang.

I slipped off through the trees away from the recovering shifters who were starting to look around for the flock kids. I made it to an abandoned hunter's shack and took refuged under what was left of the roof. I was tired and my shoulder was hurting. How had the shifters found us so fast? I tried to think but soon oblivion took my mind and I drifted off.

Let me tell you, when you're on the run for your life and you're injured, one good thing to do to stay alive is to not let oblivion take over. You could wake up in a bad situation, like say, surrounded by a group of armed humans?

Now normally humans are no prob to defeat, but with me being injured they were a threat, and when they were armed, it was worse.

"Hey you," one said tapping my foot with his.

"Who me?" I asked.

"Yeah, what are you doing here, this is our hideout."

"This half-a shack? I was just resting, you can have it," I muttered as I moved to sit on my knees. "Why do you want a place like this anyway?" I asked.

"It's hidden," another boy said.

"Who are you?" the first boy asked.

"Tell me who you are and I'll tell you who I am," I answered.

"No, now tell us who you are, we don't have all day."

"No, you tell me who you are," I was tired of this game of word tennis.

"You aren't in a position to be makin' orders pal, who the fk are you?"

"My name is Up," I answered.

"What's your last name, Up?" he asked.

"Yours, up yours."

He hit me in the left shoulder with the butt of his gun and I went down in a haze of pain stars.

Yikes did it hurt!

I came to in a dark room. I was tied up with duct tape, again. Boy duct tape has a thing for me. Ha ha. Anyways, I tried to sit up but my shoulder was hurting too much, stupid humans and their weapons.

I could see around me a bit because I have a cat's night vision, but I have to have at least little light to be able to see clearly. Without light it only works about half as well as it should.

I was trying to maneuver myself around to see behind me when a door opened and the sudden light blinded me.

"Ack!" I said. I blinked rapidly to rid myself of the spots I was seeing.

"What do you want?" I asked when I could see.

"Well smart a. I just want some answers. Now, what were you doing at our hideout?"

"It isn't much of a hideout." I pointed out, but instead of laughing he hit my shoulder.

"Ow! Fk! I was just resting, I had been walking for a while and was tired and my shoulder was hurting. I just drifted off."

"Right. Sure. Who shot you and why?" he asked.

"Some people. I was just f- walking home and one of 'em must have mistook me for a deer or something, it was dark out." I mentally hit myself, I had almost said "flying".

"What are those weird bumps and marks on your back?" he asked, this time a little more curious than snotty.

"Um... Would you believe me if I told you the bumps were wings, and that the marks were panther spots?" I asked, trying to make it sound like a joke.

He looked at me wonderingly for a moment, all trace of menace gone. He stood up and quickly left without answering.

"No, ha ha, that's real funny," I muttered.

He was gone for a few minutes before coming back in with another guy. This one screamed "CAT DNA" not that I was serious, but he walked like he was swimming in air and his features and movements were feline.

"This is Tom," the gun guy said, I snickered, Tom _cat,_ I thought. He ignored me and continued, "He's a mutant. He had cat DNA added to him when he was an embryo and when you said you had wings we thought you might be a mutant to." I just stared, I had been right about the cat DNA.

"Is that why you're so "What are you doing here?" and all, or what?" I asked.

"Uh, yeah actually, that's right. You see the people who made him are..."

"After him? Yeah same here, their army of shifters are the ones who shot me. They took me back to the lab, I call it the Institution, and I met six other mutants, avian-human hybrids. They had wings, with feathers. Mine are bat wings.

Tom had been staring at me the entire time gun guy and I had been talking but now spoke, "What else are you? You smell of.." He paused here then continued, "Of bat, tiger, panther, and...wolverine?" He looked at me for conformation and I nodded shocked. His voice was a deep, mesmerizing purr.

"Nice sense of smell. Now, who are the rest of you guys? Can I be released now? My shoulder is killing me."

"Yeah, my name is Gunn, the rest of us are in another room. And I'll have Tom cut the duct tape off. Tom?" As Tom used a claw to cut the duct tape off of my hands and feet I thought of the irony of Gunn's name.

When I was free I followed Gunn and Tom down a hallway that looked to be made of... I touched it to be sure, yep, dirt.

"Uh, Gunn, are we under ground?" I asked

"Yeah, the shack is just the cover, there's a small metal hatch just under where you were sitting that leads down here. I don't think it was a hunter's shack at all. I think it was something else, though I'm not sure."

The hall ended in a room that had wooden planks covering two and half of the dirt walls and a pile of wood in a corner showed that Gunn and his guys had been working to make this place more liveable.

Everyone stared at us as we walked in.

"This guy's a good guy huh?" one asked, his eyes suspiciously looking me up and down.

"Yes," Gunn answered. "He's like Tom in the sense as he's not wholly human."

Now I was looked with more curious interest than suspicious hostility. There were about nine other guys in the room and all looked like different movie rejects. Two had the punk rock look with bright, multi-colored hair, one with a Mohawk the other with spikes. Three had the biker gang look with open denim vests, bandanas, and tattoos up the wazoo. One was wearing leather pants and the other two had ripped jeans. Gunn was with the biker look. The rest had a real cool gothic look. Their clothes were sporting some death metal slogan or saying and two had chained pants and the other two had black jeans. One of them was wearing an animal claw in his ear and had a spike in the other. The rest looked like your regular TV stereotypes. Tom was among the Goths.

"What's your name?" asked one of the biker like guys.

"I'll tell you mine if you tell me who all of you are." I answered.

"Sure," one of the punkers said.

"My name's Aiden, though I must warn you I have another personality I can't talk to named Zodiac. He's more animal in thought and action."

"I'll introduce everyone," Gunn said and pointed at Mohawk boy, "This is Sid." Sid waved.

"Call me Blaze," the spiked boy said.

"I'm Scorpion," Leather Pants said.

"I'm Doyle MacMurphy and this is my brother Connor," said one of the jean clad biker boys.

"I'm Vince, this is Kyle," the Goth with the claw in his ear said pointing to himself then to another beside him."

"The other two go by Bryan and Knife." Each waved as their name was said.

"So, why are you guys here? Like why down under ground?" I asked sitting down and leaning against a section of wooded wall. Tom sat beside me.

"Because this place is prepared for, like, a nuclear war if one was to happen. It's got a room with steel walls filled with non-perishable foods and first aid stuff and its got a big room filled with fold up bunks and kerosene lamps, extra oil, and all that good stuff. By the way, how's your shoulder?" Kyle said.

"My shoulder hurts like hell, it wasn't properly cared for as all I could do was wash it off and wrap it with my shirt," I answered.

"I'll take a look at it," Kyle said getting up. "C'mon." I hesitated.

"Go on," Gunn urged. "He's really good at medical shit."

So I got up and followed Kyle back down the hall and off to the left to another room. This one was full of medical stuff with three beds along the wall.

"How far around does this place go?" I asked as Kyle undid the wrap and began examining my wound.

"Well so far we've found at least six or so rooms, the little closet you were in is for storing our weapons and odds and ends. Then the livingroom, as we call it. This room, or the med room. The bedroom, the bathroom, which is cool. The bathroom has, like, five or six stalls with toilets of sorts, sorta like the kind at camp sites, they don't flush but instead are hollow and lead into a big hole. And it has accesses to an underground creek where we wash ourselves. This place is pretty cool. We're placing wood along some of the plain dirt walls so that nothing burrows in and we're keeping the food stock up. We've also got a series of coolers for cold stuff. We are prepared for the worse. And the best part is, its hidden. No one can find us unless they knew where to look. The hatch above ground leads down into the closet room and from there we can accesses the rest of the place. It was an unbelievable day when we found this place. We've brought in beanbag chairs and futons for the livingroom and some towels and clothes."

Kyle finished cleaning and bandaging my shoulder and asked, "Wanna look around?"

"Yeah, sure, this place sounds cool. But it also sounds like someone paranoid built it."

"Well paranoid or not, we're grateful anyway," he answered leading the way out of the med room and into another room with doorways leading out of it.

"This is the bedroom," he said. There were beds along each of the walls of the long room. They had put shelves, bends, and boxes in between some of the beds for clothes and other things.

He led me into a doorway off the right of the bedroom down a short hallway to a room with a door. He opened the door and I got a whiff of "eau de camp bathroom"

"This must be the bathroom," I said before he could speak.

"Yeah. The creek is along the far wall." He led me to the back of the room where a small creek flowed at a lazy pace.

"It's about knee deep and flows in through that little opening and out through that opening so we get fresh water every time we use it," Kyle said indicating the left to right flow.

"Interesting. Do you know where it leads to?"

"We haven't gotten to that yet," a memorable voice from behind me answered. Kyle and I jumped and turned as Tom came toward us.

"Have you seen the rest of the place," Tom asked. I shook my head and studied him. He was black like a panther and like a panther had spots along his body. His nose was wide and flat, his eyes oval and golden. His hair was in corn rows. His ears were surprisingly human in that they were rounded and flat along side his head. He smiled at me revealing teeth like mine.

"Wanna see my claws to?" he asked and I realized I had been a bit obvious in my observation of him.

"No, I have claws to though they don't retract as well 'cause of the wolverine in me. But I was wondering, do you roar, or purr, or both?" I was curious because I could do both. I could roar like a tiger and purr like a panther.

Before he could answer, however, Gunn came in looking a little miffed.

"Aiden, there are six kids outside demanding to see you."


	5. Chapter 4

Note to the readers: sorry if this chapter lulls. I hope you all like it anyway and I hope y'all review it with your opinions.

Ch4

I followed Gunn back to the closet and up a ladder to find the flock kids in a group with a person I had yet to meet holding them at gunpoint.

"Hey guys, how'd you find me? I thought you had left after beating the shifters." Gunn looked at me strangely and asked, "These are the other mutants?"

"Yeah, they are."

"We did leave after we beat the Erasers, but we circled back to look for you and make sure you were okay," Max answered looking between Gunn and me.

"Oh, well, I feel loved. Anyway, Gunn, these are the flock kids, Max, Nudge, Angel, Fang, Iggy, and Gasman. Flock people, Gunn." They waved and Gunn turned to me.

"Are they trust worthy?"

"Well, they've helped me so far and are against the same people I am, and the people after me are after them as well. Why don't you bring Tom up and ask him?" I looked at them, Max was glaring at Gunn when she said, "Aiden, are you sure this Gunn is trustworthy, he might be working for the whitecoats, and this Tom guy as well." She looked at me pointedly. I was in a rut now as both the flock kids and Gunn looked at me. Oh boy.

"Uh...Okay, look, I think we should trust each other for now, flock peoples, you've helped me and I've helped you. Gunn, you've also helped me and so far we all agree that we are against the whitecoats and shifters, or, what was it you called them Max, Erasers? Anyway, for now we should try and work things out and make a plan, if things go wonky we can book it. Okay flock people, Gunn?" I looked at both.

They thought for a minute and Max said, "First we meet this Tom guy. Then we'll talk, okay?"

"Okay, I'll bring him up," Gunn agreed.

As gun went back down to get Tom I looked at the guy still holding the gun.

"Who are you, I haven't met you yet," I said, studying him. He looked a bit different from the rest, a little off.

"My name's Frost. You the mutant they found today?"

"Yes, I'm Aiden. By the way, is it nighttime?"

"Yeah, why?" Gasman asked confused.

"'Cause I can see perfectly but I just noticed that the moon was out." I pointed at the near full moon and shrugged. "The moonlight is bright for me..."

"As is for me," Tom said coming up and standing beside me. The flock kids stared at Tom as I had.

"Mmm. Birds, you smell like food and humans," Tom purred looking a little wild in the eyes.

"Easy tiger, they're friends, not food," I said.

"It's panther to be precise and I know they are friends Aiden, I was just saying the cat in me says, food." He looked at me and smiled.

"You Tom?" Max asked. "Tell me, what do you know of the Erasers and the whitecoats?" Tom looked at me questioningly.

"Erasers are the lupine-human hybrid army the scientists made to keep us inferior experiments under control and whitecoats are the scientists who made us," I explained.

"Oh. Well I know I had to fight Erasers to test my strength and abilities, they lost a lot of Erasers. And the whitecoats always did stuff to me and made me do things. I remember one "test" where they had put me in a room with no food or water for about a week and a half before bringing a young girl into the room and leaving her there to see my reaction. It was bad, the starvation had put me half out of my mind and I...I, well I," he stopped.

"You killed her?" I asked. He nodded.

"Those whitecoats are bad, they made me run a bunch of horrible tests when they had me to," Angel said coming over and hugging Tom.

"So how did you escape?" Fang asked. Tom looked at him and said, "A few weeks after the incident with the girl they took me out to the middle of the woods and left me there to see how I would survive without help. As soon as they left I ran. I ran for days before stopping in this clearing to rest. I knew they were tracking me and I couldn't stay in one place for long, but I needed food and a place to hide. I came over to this hut, not much different then and I walked around on all fours to find a good spot to rest and heard a metal ting when I stepped on the hatch. Being the curious cat I am I studied it, found the handle, opened it and crawled into the hole and down into the closet room. I just collapsed where I was without thinking of all the things I should have thought about, was this a whitecoat test? Who knew about this place? Does it have food? And many more questions, but I was so tired and didn't care at the time. Gunn and the guys found me there curled up in a ball deep asleep. It took them forever to wake me and interrogate me. When I told them about me they were amazed, had never heard of such a thing as me and decided to help me. I was glad and I've been with them since."

"How long ago was that?" Iggy asked.

"Oh, about...two some years ago. Right Gunn?" Gunn thought for a minute then nodded.

"Okay, now that we've heard your life story and all can we go down, I get the feeling that if we stand here the Erasers will come," I said.

"Yeah, come on," Gunn said jumping to the task and letting everyone go down one by one. Tom and I were the last ones to go down.

"Your life sounds like mine, I'll tell you about it later if you want to hear about it." I was kinda embarrassed because I was being real open and vulnerable to a near stranger, I had never been that way before, not even the flock kids knew my life story.

"I should like to hear about it sometimes, yes," he said before giving me a "you first" gesture. I went down and he followed.

I went down to the living room and found everyone there sitting among the various beanbag chairs and futons. I offered Tom the last beanbag chair and he sat down then patted his lap.

I shook my head politely and sat down on a blank space of floor beside him.

"Okay, so Gunn, I have an idea. The flock kids and I could stay here til I'm better and get our bearings then leave and y'all can forget we was here, or if you have any ideas we could here 'em," I said looking around. One of the biker clad boys, Scorpion, was leering at Max and she was glaring back at him, challenging him to try something. Angel was grooming a dirty bear with angel wings I hadn't seen before. Fang and Iggy were in a conversation with Vince and Kyle and the MacMurphy brothers were laughing about something with Nudge and Gazzy.

"Okay people, quiet now please. Aiden, I do have some ideas though yours seems the one to pick and work on a bit. Your all welcome to stay here and recover before going on your way or you could leave now. Your choice." He and the others looked at me.

"I dunno, what do you think guys?" I said looking at each of the flock members.

"I don't know, what do you guys think?" Max asked.

"I like it here, can we stay?" Angel asked looking up from her bear.

"Yeah, Fang and I don't mind staying, though being underground does make us nervous."

"Same here," Nudge said. Gazzy nodded.

"Well then is it settled? Max, we still need to hear from ya."

Max was silent then nodded, "I agree with Fang and the others, being underground is kind of unsettling though, but if it keeps us safe, I'll stay."

""Kay, same here, now I have a small question, can I take a bath and get some new clothes? I've been wearing these pants for awhile now and I don't have a shirt."

"Yeah, sure, Tom has some clothes that should fit you as you both are pencils, and you can bathe, so can the others if they wish.

"Hear that flock," Max asked looking at the flock. "Bath time as soon as Aiden's done." Gazzy groaned and said something but I didn't catch it as I followed Tom into the bedroom to get a change of clothes, a towel and some soap before heading to the bathroom.

Tom left me in the bathroom and I went over to the creek. There wasn't much light in the room for my night vision to work well so I lit two of the four kerosine lamps that rested by the bank. I stripped my pants and stepped into the water.

"Oh, brrr," I said aloud, my voice echoing a bit in the room.

I then braced my self and immersed the rest of my body in the water. I came up slightly numb but ignored and grabbed a bottle of soap and started scrubbing my body.

I washed and rinsed my body and hair twice before deciding I was clean. I stepped out of the creek and grabbed the towel to dry off.

I was trying to dry my hair, which I realized needed to be cut, when Tom came in again.

"I came to ask if you wanted to brush your teeth now," he said when he was within two feet of me.

"Oh, not right now, but soon. Do you know anyone who can cut hair? Mine needs to be cut." He didn't answer for a minute and I paused in the drying of myself to look at him. He was staring at me a little weirdly.

"Uh- Tom? Did you hear me? I need scissors." He blinked and looked at my face.

"Sorry, I...yeah, Kyle knows how to cut hair. I'll go get him." He gave me one last lingering look and left.

I shrugged and finished drying myself. I tossed the towel on the ground and picked up my dirty pair of pants, then stuck 'em in the water before attacking them with the soap. When they were clean and rinsed of soap. I set them on a rock and put the borrowed clothes on.

Feeling clean I left my pants on the rock and left the bathroom. In the bedroom Tom, Kyle and the flock were all scattered about.

"'Kay Max, y'all can bathe now, though I warn you, the water is freezing."

"Okay, boys, you first," Max said pointing at the bathroom.

Tom handed them towels and they went into the bathroom.

"Aiden, you said you needed your hair cut?"

"Yeah," I said.

"Okay then, please sit down on this stool and I will start," Kyle said grabbing me and setting me on the stool.

"Now, do you want your hair in a specific style or what?" Kyle asked, scissors in one hand, comb in the other.

"Um...What ever you decide to do, I'm giving you free rein of my hair," I said.

"Okay then. Girls, do you want your hair done as well? Or what about the boys?"

Max looked over at Kyle who had started in on my hair with zeal and was currently snipping at it here and there.

"I think we do need haircuts. What do you say Angel, Nudge, wanna get your hair cut?"

"Yeah, sure, can I get my hair in corn rows again?" Angel asked.

"If Kyle knows how to do corn rows, yes. Do you

Kyle?"

"Honey, hair is my thang, I can do most any hair style in the book and then some, what about you Nudge? Anything specific?"

"Um... I'll let you do whatever you want to," she answered after a second.

"Max? What about you?"

"Just cut it short please, otherwise it gets in the way when I fly."

Just then the boys came back in all "squeaky" clean and the girls went into the bathroom, towels draped over their shoulders.

"Hey boys, Max says y'all are to get your hair cut, anything specific in mind?" Kyle asked before any of them could speak. Kyle was now snipping and combing, snipping and combing.

"Just the back of my hair please," Fang said.

"Just a trim for me and Iggy," said Gazzy.

"Hey, uh, where are we sleeping?" I asked as the thought occurred to me.

"We have enough beds for six of you and the rest of us, but one will have to sleep somewhere else," Tom answered.

"Well, I'll let the flock have the beds and sleep on a beanbag or futon in the livingroom. Hey Kyle, how's my hair coming?"

"It's coming along fine, I just need someone to get me my tube of gel," he answered.

"I'll get it," Tom said and left.

The boys were trying to find the beds that were free when Gunn came in, Tom behind him holding a tube of gel and a case with dyes and other hair stuff in it.

"Hey Gunn, which beds are the free ones?" Fang asked.

"Oh, those four on that side and those two on that one," Gunn said pointing to the free ones.

"Great, tell Max we'll get our hair cut tomorrow, we're all beat," Fang said moving to one of the two free ones on the left of the room as Gazzy and Iggy went to one of the four on the other.

Tom had handed the case of stuff to Kyle while Gunn was talking and now Kyle was adding colors to different parts of my head and spiking it.

Five minutes or so later the girls came out with wet hair and looking refreshed as some of the other guys came in and got ready for bed.

Kyle went over each spike one more time before announcing that my hair was done and that it was perfect.

"Nice, it looks cool," Tom said coming over to look at it closely.

"Looks like a rainbow threw up on your hair," Connor said.

"Thanks, I feel loved. Do you have a mirror Kyle?"

Kyle handed me a mirror as Connor and Doyle sniggered over something Doyle had said.

I looked at my hair in the mirror. It did sorta look like a rainbow had taken sick above my head, but it was cool looking and with the spikes I looked like I had been electrocuted while the rainbow was barfing on my head.

"Cool," Gazzy said coming over to inspect my hair as well. Someone else sniggered.

"Thanks Kyle, it looks cool," I said handing him the mirror.

"You are welcome sir," he said as he put everything back into the case.

By now everyone was in the room and most of them were either in bed or getting ready for bed.

"Hey Tom, do you have a spare toothbrush and some toothpaste?" I asked.

"Yeah, I was just gonna brush my teeth as well." He grabbed two toothbrushes and a tube of toothpaste out of a box from beneath his bed and I followed him back into the bathroom.

He went to the stream and said, "Clear of soap."

"Okay."

He handed me a toothbrush and I got it wet before putting a stripe of toothpaste on it and brushing vigorously at my teeth. He did the same. And we were both done about the same time. I spit and rinsed the toothbrush off and he did the same. To get rid of the lingering toothpaste in my mouth I sucked in a mouthful of water and rinsed my teeth. Tom did as well.

"G-night Tom, see ya in the morning," I said standing up.

"Good-night Aiden," he answered.

I left the bathroom and went through the bedroom where a few people were still awake and then left into the hall to sleep in the livingroom.

Gunn was there, he had gone back in while I was brushing my teeth.

"'Night Gunn," I said and pushed some of the futons and beanbags together before laying down on them.

"'Night Aiden," he answered.

I fell asleep before Gunn left and I didn't hear him leave, nor did I hear Tom come in.

I was almost fully asleep when my make-shift bed indented as someone lay down beside me.

I opened my eyes and saw Tom's face an inch from mine. He looked at me and I him for a second before asking, "Uh, Tom, what are you doing?"

"Uh, sleeping, should I go?" He started to leave but I told him to stop.

"You don't have to go. I was just curious as to why you wanted to sleep with me."

"I like you," he said and fell asleep, purring softly.

"Oh," I whispered to myself.

Soon I to fell asleep and, for the first time in my life, slept peacefully and without worry.


	6. Chapter 5

Note to readers: Sorry it took so long to post I've been and am still sick. And I've had writers block, I probably will try to work on ch 6 but it might take a while. Sorry. Oh, and there might be some slash in up coming chpts so im gonna up the rating things. >.

Ch5

I woke up refreshed and my shoulder was just a small twinge now. One good mutant thing is fast healing. Tom was curled up in a ball pressed into my side and when I tried to get up without waking him he rolled over and looked at me.

"M-morning Aiden," he said through a yawn as he stretched.

"Mornin' Tom." I stretched as well. I looked around and saw that a few of the flock had awaken before us and come in here only to crash again.

"I'm hungry, do you guys have any fresh meat? Or should I go hunt for it?" I looked at Tom and he shrugged.

"We might have some in one of the coolers, but I like my meat fresh. I think we should go hunting."

"Okay, but first, I need to use the bathroom."

Outside the day was cool and fresh and I knew it would be a good day. We had been hunting for some big kind of game for a while when a crack echoed through the silence and Tom and I stopped.

"What do you think it is?" I whispered.

"Dunno. Shhh, I think something or someone is coming," he whispered back.

"Lets keep moving," I said. He nodded his head and we continued silently forward.

Moving as though we could read each others mind we made double backs and circles to keep whatever following us on their toes.

As we were doubling back for a third time a shot rang out and just missed Tom.

"RUN!" I shouted and run we did, right into trouble.

A net came down on us from nowhere and Tom and I went down hard. I landed on my left shoulder and cursed.

"What is it?" Tom asked. Before I could answer, however, a man stepped forward and looked us up and down. Others came out as he spoke, "Well, well, well, what have we here? A couple of punks."

"What do you want?" I asked.

"Well look here boys, it speaks," he said to the others who laughed.

"I also yell, what the fk do you want?"

"Foul language for an animal. But to answer your question, a man I know is payin' top dollar for a couple of guinea pigs to experiment on and you two seem perfect."

"What kind of "experiments"?" Tom asked, a note of worry in his voice.

"Well now we don't ask questions we just do the work. Now tie 'em up and lets go," he said and Tom and I were picked up and bound in, you guessed it, duct tape. _Start the weddin' march, duct tape has found me again,_ I thought as they put us in the back of a truck.

"Dum, dum, da-dum," I muttered.

"Huh?" Tom asked.

"Oh, nothin'," I said.

The truck started with a jerk and off we went. Aiden caught again, boy I need to think of a better way to stay out of trouble.

"Wonder if the guys will notice if we're gone," Tom said, thinking.

"Dunno. Maybe, maybe not. Either way we need to think of a way to escape before some freak autopsies us alive."

"Alive?" Tom shuddered.

"Sorry, just thinking. Wait, I have an idea, come closer so I can whisper it to you."

Tom scooted closer so that I could whisper my plan and he nodded when I had finished.

I rolled over so that my back was to him and he rolled over and came closer. I closed my eyes as Tom stabbed at my bindings with a claw. After digging into it for a few seconds he made a hole and worked at it till he could rip it open. When only a tiny bit was left connecting the ends I pulled my wrists apart. Tom's claw had pierced me a couple of times so I had to wipe the blood away before freeing my feet and starting on Tom's bindings. When he was free he rubbed his wrists before getting into position.

We stayed ready and when the truck slowed we braced ourselves. When the doors opened Tom and I leaped out landing on the two guys who had been sent to get us. Jumping up Tom and I ran. We were on the outskirts of a town so we ran in that direction running around people who were walking. After running a couple of blocks we stopped outside of a shop called "Pop's soda shoppe" and we went inside. We sat in a booth in the back corner out of view of the wide front windows and caught our breath before speaking.

"What do we do now?" I asked.

"Well, this is the town the guys and I come to for supplies. I know these streets real well. And I've been to this shop before, there's a window that leads to an alley outside of the men's room. Follow me," he said. Checking to make sure none of the goons were inside the shop or outside of the window Tom and I went into the men's room.

There was one guy washing his hands and we waited for him to leave before studying the window.

"Good, it's not painted shut, and there are no bars or grates," I said.

Together we worked the window open and Tom slipped out and waited for me to get outside before leading me through a maze of streets and alleys.

Soon we came to the edge of town again and we slipped off into the woods.

"You know we can't go back to the hideout incase they follow us," I said as we sat in a tree to rest.

"Yeah I know, so where _do_ we go? Not town, too many people. Um, I'm at a loss. You think," he said.

"Thanks. Well..." I thought for a moment and came to nothing.

"Lets just keep walking till we find shelter or something," I said at last. It was all I could think of and it wasn't a very good plan.

"Yeah, okay," Tom agreed.

We shimmied down the tree and began walking in the direction that led farther away from the town.

After walking through the day and into night we finally found a wide tree with large branches.

"Feel like sleeping in a tree?" I asked.

"Well I am mostly cat, so sure," he said. "After you." And up we went. Nearly half of the way up we found two good branches close to each other and Tom and I fell asleep.

It kinda sucks to be sleeping in a comfortable mix of beanbags in a place with a bath to sleeping in a tree, and I was sore when I woke up after a few hours of hard sleeping.

After Tom had woken up we started walking again.

A few hours and most of the day later Tom and I caught a couple of rabbits and sat in a tree to eat them before walking some more.

Half a day later the flock kids found us in another tree conked out.

"Aiden, wake up," a voice, Max's, shouted at me.

"What? Where?" I said jumping awake and nearly falling. Tom was up to and he looked puzzled.

"What is it?" I asked. "How'd you find us?"

"We've been looking for you since you left without notice, the gang that was helping us got attacked," Fang said.

"WHAT?" Tom shouted. "What do you mean "attacked"?" He was looking at each of the hovering flock kids in turn.

"Some guys found the hideout, we don't know how, and they stormed the place looking for two people, one with multi-colored hair, the other black as night. When the others denied knowing knowledge of you both the people started shooting the place up shouting that if no one spoke up, they wouldn't speak again. A lot of the gang is dead and rest were injured when we left, though that might have changed since we left. A weird thing is that the guy who had held us gun point before we met the rest of the gang wasn't there. He was missing." Max finished and Tom looked angry and upset.

"I remember that guy, he looked a little off," I said before climbing up a branch to sit by Tom. I put my arm around his shoulders and looked at the kids, "Where are the injured? And how'd u survive?"

"They're still at the place, and we weren't there, we heard this from Kyle," Gazzy said.

"Well we need to go back there, help the injured guys and get whatever supplies we can." I look at Tom before saying, "The fastest way to get there is to fly, I'll carry Tom and we can make it there in, er- how far away is the hideout?"

"'Bout four hours flight from here," Fang said.

""Kay, we should make it there soon."

"Are you sure you should fly?" Nudge asked. "I mean, your shoulder-"

"My shoulder is fine. I can make it, lets go."

I stood up slowly on the branch and then Tom did.

"Now, Tom, which way do want me to carry you? Do you want to sit on my back just behind my wings or hang on to me from the front?" I asked.

"Well, I don't much like flying, I think I'll hang on," he said.

"'Kay. Grab on."

He did and I took off with the rest of the flock. My shoulder was still a bit sore but after awhile I had worked most of the kinks out.

"How'r you doin' Tom?" I asked after we had been flying for sometime.

"I'm okay," he said. He sounded a little nervous.

We stopped in the trees just outside the clearing of the hideout and looked around. When nothing appeared we crept toward the hatch and started down.

Everything was a mess, bodies were in each room and blood was everywhere. I saw Gunn's body lying in an awkward position in the bedroom and Doyle was holding the body of his brother as his own blood mixed with the rest of the bloody mess.

"Fk," I said turning the body of Blaze over with my foot. I walked over to Doyle and knelt in front of him.

"Doyle, let go of Connor and let me check out your wounds," I said, gently prying the body away from him and noticing right off that he would die anyway as there was a hole by his neck, I was surprised he had lasted this long. Even as I looked him over he gave a last gargled breath and died.

I stood up and looked at the others, Tom was slumped against the wall, crying and the flock was standing in the middle of the room looking around.

I went over to Tom who spoke in a choked voice, "They were my family, my brothers, now they're...They're." His voice broke and he stopped.

"I don't know what to say Tom, so I won't speak." I put my hand on his shoulder and he turned and fell into my arms.

"Shh now, shh." I patted his back before letting go and turning to the flock.

"Take Tom outside, I'm going to catalogue what I see before grabbing supplies."

They nodded and Nudge and Angel led Tom out of the room after the others while I started looking around.

The bedroom was a mess and I didn't see anyone else so I went into the bathroom and saw Kyle half in the creek but alive. I jogged over and pulled him the rest of the way out of the creek.

"Aiden, you're here," he said.

"Did you get shot anywhere?"

"My leg, I got shot in the leg and fell into the water," he whispered. I looked and found a gaping hole in his right leg, the water had helped the bleeding but he had still lost a lot of blood.

"Can you grasp?" I asked him.

"Dunno, I..." he started coughing before he could finish.

"Hang onto my back, I'll take you to the med-room."

I turned and pulled him onto my back. Hunched over forward and grasping his arms I walked out of the bathroom toward the med-room. I set him on one of the beds, stomach down, and grabbed a rolled up bandage. I wrapped his leg tightly before leaving to see the rest of the place.

In the livingroom beans and cotton we scattered around and the torn fabric of the beanbags and foutons were lying about like a deflated army of cloth balloons. I saw the bodies of Sid, Scorpion and Vince lying in a bloody pile.

Brian was unconscious and I didn't see Knife till I moved the body of Scorpion and saw him lying there half-conscious, a trail of dried blood in the corner of his mouth. I picked him up, set him on my shoulder and carried him to the med-room before coming back for Brian.

Kyle was floating in and out of consciousness and didn't say anything when I removed the temporary bandage and started to clean his leg and bandage it better.

After Kyle I moved onto Knife and looked him over. There were four bullet holes in his back and as I cleaned up the blood he to died. Stopping in my work I went over to Brian only to find that he had died somewhere in the time of being moved and my cleaning of the others.

I hung my head and sat down on the wall opposite the beds and beat the wall behind me.

"DAMN IT ALL!" I shouted. I stood and went outside to report to the others.

"Everyone but Kyle is dead, and Kyle needs to go to a hospital or he _will_ die. I think we should burry the dead down there after gathering supplies. What do you say Tom?" Tom, who was sitting against a tree dazed but not crying anymore, shrugged.

"Okay, flock kids, think you can help me make up packs of supplies? Tom is there any money you guys kept?"

"In the bedroom beneath Gunn's old bed, it's in a covered hole," he said in a hollow voice.

""Kay, flock, follow me."

We went back down and while Fang and Nudge searched for the money in the bedroom, we didn't know where Gunn's bed had been, the rest of us made up seven packs to carry. Four of the seven contained food and drinks and of the other three, one was full of medical stuff and the other two had blankets and two tarps each.

When Fang came back with the money I put it into my pack, which was the medical pack. We would notify the police anonymously when we got to town so that Kyle could get help. I had put a bunch of food and liquid by his bed before leaving so he wouldn't starve.

After getting everything ready we set the packs against the bedroom wall and after finding a few shovels some of the flock and I dug shallow graves for the dead.

Outside we started walking even though flying would have been faster and as we walked I hoped and prayed for a bit of good luck to hit us.

Hoping was the best I, we, could do at the moment.


End file.
